On this page: Day 1 - Car to Camp Schurman Day 2 - Training/rest at Camp Schurman Day 3 - Summit Day Day 4 - Camp Schurman to the car

Other links: National Park Service (NPS) Mt. Rainier Site Paradise Valley weather conditions

We drove from the visitor center to the White River Ranger Station, located at the White River Entrance just west of Hwy 410 at an elevation 3500'.  We registered for the climb, and received intimidating comments from a ranger who had never even climbed to basecamp.  The climber log book at the ranger station did not make our chances look very promising - a majority of climbers had made the summit during June, but the number of successful attempts had decreased steadily as the summer progressed, and only ~25% of the climbers had made the summit in the past three weeks.  The crevasses were very open, which lengthened the route and cutoff reliable routes from earlier in the season.

We drove another 5 miles west and made camp at the White River Campground located on the east side of the mountain at 4400'.  The approach hike to the toe of Inter Glacier started adjacent to the campground, and we would be able to leave our car in the campground parking lot.  We met a group of students from Phoenix, AZ who had just returned from an unsuccessful summit attempt along our same planned route.  They reported that there was a 6" wide ice ledge perpendicular to a very deep crevasse that had to be crossed just above 12000'.  They had made it to the ledge, but had chosen to turn around rather than cross.  They loaned us several pickets (we did not even realize that we needed them) and a pair of gloves (for Scott, whose gloves were pretty marginal for the climb).  They were a real nice bunch of people.  We made dinner and got into the tents early to get a good night's rest.

We started the approach on a hiking trail through thick lush forest.  It was cool, so we started the hike in our full shells and fleeces - we realized quickly that this was a mistake.  The excessive weight of our packs required much more work than we expected, and we were soon taking off layers of clothing as fast as possible.  We hiked through the forest for several hours, and emerged above the treeline with the the toe Inter Glacier in sight.  We progressed up a steep dirt/scree path to the toe of the glacier, where we stopped to have lunch and prepare our climbing gear.  See the image on the right of Scott and Andy wearing their mountaineering gear for the very first time.

This trip was the first mountaineering experience for Mark, Scott, and Andy, and the first time that they had worn crampons, used an ice axe, etc.  My experience was also very limited, and only consisted of one short climb of Ben Nevis in Scotland.  We donned our gear and began the ascent of Inter Glacier.  There were no crevasses on the initial slope, so we chose not to rope up.  After 45 - 60 minutes we encountered the first set crevasses, and roped up accordingly.  The rain had stopped before we mounted the glacier but the fog was still thick - we were climbing through the thick cloud cover and could not see more than 200 meters ahead at any time.  We were following a crampon path of previous climbers, and assumed that we were going in the correct direct to Camp Schurman.

We set a good pace for the group, which consisted of about 45 seconds of slow stepping, followed by a 10 second rest.  We climbed in this fashion for several hours, and the visibility did not improve.  We traversed the Inter Glacier towards our left, and encountered a dirt/scree ridge separating the Inter Glacier from the large and severely broken up Emmons Glacier.  We stumbled to the top of the dirt ridge, and found a small deserted camp (which we later learned was Camp Curtis).  The afternoon was growing late, and we considered staying at the camp, but the driving wind and extreme exposure of the location pushed us to continue.

If we had know the route better, then we would have dropped down onto the broken Emmons glacier, and ascended in a crescent shaped route that led to the base of the prow and Camp Schurman.  But, we did not know better, and assumed that there was no safe route to get onto and across the intimidating Emmons.  So, we continued to ascend the Inter Glacier, and finally caught our first glance of the camp ahead and below us on a dirt patch at the base of Steamboat Prow.  We continued straight (and up) to a set of rocks at the end of Inter Glacier.  After further investigation we realized that the rock outcropping was the top of the prow, and that Camp Schurman was only several hundred feet below us.  The picture of Camp Schurman from above the prow is show on the left.  Our options were to descend back down the Inter glacier and try to find a way around (which we had already ruled out), or climb down the steep rock prow directly to the camp.  We decided to take the short but steep route, and spent the final hour of the day navigating the treacherous rocky cliff above the prow.  This route is not recommended for future reference.  We staggered into camp at 7pm, and found several groups already occupying most of the half-dozen sites.  We climbed ~200' more above the camp, where we expected to find a smaller camp area, but it consisted merely of an deserted semi-flat spot on the glacier.  We decided that the Camp Schurman was better, climbed back down, and claimed two adjacent tent sites on the dirt prow.

The clouds dropped below the 9500' camp, rewarding us with an unlimited view to the horizon above the clouds, and also of the summit 6000 feet above us.  It was a magnificent view, show from one angle in the image below.  We were exhausted from the long day, and literally collapsed in our tents.  The prospect of getting up at midnight and trying to summit that evening did not seem physically possible, so we decided to train and rest the the following day, and attempt to summit on the next night.

We slept well that night, except for a brief disturbance at midnight when the large group awoke to began their summit climb. 

We awoke to blue skies and a cool wind blowing across the camp.  We made breakfast, discussed the previous day's climb, and concluded that we would certainly take the Emmons Glacier route on the way back down to the car (as opposed to climbing up the treacherous rock route that we had descended).  We spent the day relaxing at camp, boiling and treating snow for drinking water, and watching the other parties who had started their ascent from camp at 2am.  The climbers were barely visible with a zoom camera lens, and appeared as ants on the glacier.  We also spent a lot of time talking to the backcountry ranger who was stationed (for 3 weeks at a time) in a small hut next to camp, discussing our strategy for the following day's summit attempt.  The ranger worked on several anchoring techniques with Mark, while the rest of us sat around and admired the gorgeous view.  We had only brought the two borrowed pickets as protection, and we were not well-prepared to use them if the route became highly difficult or technical.  The Emmons-Winthrop route is known as a "normal" route with few technical challenges, but a standard route can become extremely broken late in the season, resulting in new longer routes that can become significantly more technical.

The climbing party that had started at 2am consisted of three groups of 4 people each.  At noon the first group returned, after having turned back at a little over 12,000 feet due to fatigue and lack of time.  One of the climbers had significant bowel problems during the climb, and he immediately disposed of his climbing clothes in the pit toilet next to camp.  The group appeared to be very dejected.  At 3pm another group returned, after having turned around just short of the summit, also due to fatigue and overexertion.  The third group returned a bit later, after having successfully made it to the top.  The results from this party did not help our confidence, as only a third of their party has made the top successfully.  But, in any case, we were determined to set off at midnight, and see exactly how far we would be able to make it.

The rumor had spread about the very difficult section/ledge at 12,300 feet, as mentioned previously by the group of students from Arizona  This part of the route had turned around many groups thus far.   The ranger gave us explicit instructions on how to cross the tricky ice feature, which basically consisted holding the axe head with the left hand and the axe shaft with the right hand, and crossing the ledge as quickly as possible while digging into the wall (on your right shoulder) and while being belayed be the remainder of the group.  We now had a plan.

The weather was still cool and clear, and we expected good conditions (cold and clear) for the night ahead.  We made dinner and got into the tents just after 6pm, in an attempt to get some sleep before our wakeup at midnight.  It was still very bright out, and I had not yet discovered the virtue of earplugs, so I was kept awake by the stories and activities of the other climbing groups.  Several other climbers had also arrived in the early evening, but they would not make a summit attempt until the following day.  I managed to sleep a few hours just before the alarm went off at midnight.

We left camp by 1am, and slowly began the winding ascent up the glacier.  I followed the crampon tracks from a previous party, and we proceeded slowly and silently over the next several hours.  The lights of Seattle glittered on the horizon, and I felt like we were all alone in our own world above reality.  We climbed in the same fashion as the day before - 45 seconds of stepping followed by 10 seconds of rest.  Many groups try to climb for 45 minutes followed by a 10 or 15 minute break, but we found that long breaks only make you colder and more aware of your fatigue.  At 11,500 feet we reached a point where the previously visible crampon tracks stopped, and the route was no longer obvious.  At this point I began to follow what I thought was a smaller set of crampon tracks, which proceeded directly up the glacier at a much steeper angle.  We continued at a slow pace, and stopped to rest for the first time at a semi-flat spot at approximately 12,300 feet.  We had climbed almost 3000 feet in three hours, and were making great time.

The sun began to rise as we neared the 13,000 foot mark, and the route ahead looked much more difficult among a variety of seracs and other glacial features.  We reached the infamous ledge at 5:30am, and began the slow and arduous task of belaying each climber across the thin ledge (it was about as bad as it had been described).  I cannot remember of we actually used one of the pickets, or if we all merely anchored ourselves in the arrest position.  Once we had all crossed to the opposite side, we proceeded to follow a clear crampon path.  But, the crampon trail began to descend, and I got a bad feeling in my stomach as I realized that we had already been on the correct side of the ledge.We had somehow managed to traverse to the correct side between 11,500' (when the original crampon tracks had stopped) and the elevation of the ledge.  We were somewhat dejected by this fact, but we knew that we had no choice but to cross back again.  45 minutes later we were all again on the correct side.  After a bit more investigation, we found the continuation of the route through several seracs (we had not inspected this option very closely the first time).  We climbed through the last of the broken up seracs, and then ascended for another hour on a gradual slope to the edge of the summit cone, located at 14410'.  We were all standing on the summit by 8am.

We spent the next hour on the summit admiring the view and walking around the edge of the volcano's rim.  There was barely a cloud in any direction.  The large crater was filled with snow, but the edge was snow-free and actually warm - a perfect spot for lunch.  We quickly ate some sandwiches, signed the logbook buried under a set of rocks, and began the descent.  We tried to follow our original route down, and did not cross the infamous ledge, but we still managed to get lost until we found an obvious trail of crampon tracks below 12,000'.  We arrived back at camp by 3pm, exhausted an hungry.  We contemplated climbing all the way down to the car, but decided that we did not have the energy or time to make it before dark.  We spent the remainder of the day feeling proud of our achievement, and discussing the various obstacles during the route.  We hit the tents very early, and slept great that night at basecamp.

We stepped off the Inter Glacier at around noon, but we had no lunch and therefore did not want to stop.  We started hiking down the trail to the car, and spent the next couple hours passing other climbers and hikers along the way.  We arrived at the car in the mid-afternoon, and went directly to the visitor center to return our gear, buy souvenirs, and make several phone calls to family and friends.

Mt. Rainier was the first real mountaineering experience for everyone in the group, and we were very lucky to have succeeded without bad weather, injuries, or other unfortunate circumstances.  We have since climbed many other mountains, but our Mt. Rainier experience will always remain one of our best memories.